Grandma’s Lessons No. 1

When I think about my Grandmother, I think about all of the things she’s taught me over the years. Whether she realizes it or not, she has had a tremendous influence on my life.

Probably the biggest lesson she taught me was one of independence. See, my Grandfather passed away when I was just a year old and my Grandmother never remarried. She never even dated again. She had fallen for my Grandfather when they were in school (she was four years his junior) and they married when she was 19, after she completed schooling in Portland, Oregon, to be a secretary (I think they called it business school or business training back then, but it was definitely a world away from the business school of today). I once asked her why she never thought about remarrying. She simply replied that she loved him. It was clear that there could be no other.

So, by extension, her granddaughters learned that women could be strong and independent. That life was to be lived on our terms. And that a woman could do anything she put her mind to — even in a world that often told us that only a man could be successful.

Knowing this, it’s no wonder that all of the granddaughters in my family are now women of strength. We have quite the legacy to live up to.

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Grandma told me very specifically that “my husband is dead, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a husband anymore”…..I knew at that moment that I believed in true love. It’s kind of funny to me that Grandma put that faith in me even though I was not even conceived when Grandpa was still alive. I never witnessed her loving a man, I heard and felt the love in those words she spoke to me. I realize it probably sounds cheesy but it is really one of the most memorable conversations in my life.